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According to Mexican media reports, an Airbus A320-214, which uses biofuels as part of the fuel, successfully completed a test flight of approximately 800 kilometers in Mexico.
73% of fuel used in this test flight is traditional fossil fuel, and the remaining 27% is biofuel mixture. Its main components include Jatropha oil and algae biofuel produced in Chiapas, Mexico.
The Airbus took off from Mexico City International Airport on the morning of April 1st and landed in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, southeast of Mexico, with a range of 803 kilometers. The plane took 6.2 tons of fuel when it took off, consuming a total of 2.71 tons. To ensure flight safety, this twin-engine passenger aircraft has only one engine using new fuel.
The test flight was carried out by Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet. The company’s president, Miguel Aleman, said that the current cost of biofuel manufacturing is still high at US$ 12.5 per liter, compared with just US$ 0.9 per liter for traditional aviation fuel. However, the large amount of oil crops planted in Mexico provides the basis for the development of new types of biofuels. With long-term development, the production costs of biofuels will certainly be lower than traditional fossil fuels, and the cost of traveling by plane will be lower than it is now.
According to the pilot organizer, this test flight has made Mexico confident that by 2015 it will achieve the goal of using 1% aviation fuel for biofuels.